No matter how you slice it, 100 years is a long time — a milestone well worth celebrating. This past weekend Jarvie celebrated its centennial anniversary in fine form with hundreds of residents past and present joining in the festivities.
Every year, Jarvie Days is a celebration of that community, not unlike the other small festivals scattered throughout the county such as Farmer’s Days in Busby. This year the celebration obviously took on a more significant purpose with the recognition the hamlet has been an important part of the 44 North corridor for a century.
But while we celebrate the number, we would do well not to forget what those 100 years represent.
For every day in every month in each one of those years, ordinary people were working hard. In the early days the people were working hard building railroads, working hard felling trees and sending them up the Pembina, and working hard homesteading to make a life for their families.
Services inevitably sprang up in the community to support the growing population, and although the number of people calling that community home has waxed and waned somewhat over the years, the spirit of hard work remains.
What makes a community like Jarvie great, and what makes all the communities within the Westlock-County area great, is the spirit of hard work that has remained for a century.
That hard work in Jarvie has rarely been as evident as it was over the past couple years — as one Jarvie Community Council volunteer put it, it’s a community where the older and new generations come together for the betterment of the community.
And two recent projects really showcase that coming together with permanent fixtures in the community. One cannot miss the sawmill right when you enter town, which was put together by a group of hardworking local volunteers seeking to honour the community’s past.. Further down the road tucked in behind the fire hall is a new playground, which shows clearly that this community is looking to the future as well.
Declining enrolment at the local school ultimately led to its closure, but while a school closure is considered catastrophic for community’s in some places, one doesn’t get that sense from Jarvie — residents have the attitude that hard work and community-mindedness will see them through the next century as well.
Congratulations on 100, and here’s to 100 more.
